Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Sketchbook Portrait- A Painting of the Curator

oil on canvas board, 3 1/2 " x 5"
I couldn't resist doing a painting inspired by this found image.  Unfortunately, I don't know who to credit  for the photo I used as a reference. I normally wouldn't paint something that wasn't my own composition but I was so struck by this photo that I wanted to do more than a sketch with it---I wanted more color than I can get from color pencils.  It's from an article in the April 2011 Smithsonian magazine written by Jamie Katz about John Marciari(the man above).  In 2004, Marciari, while acting as a junior curator at the Yale University's Art Gallery, found in the basement's art storeroom an unsigned early Velazquez painting. You can imagine how exciting that must have been.  I'm afraid my rendition of Marciari doesn't look that much like him, his face should be longer and thinner.  It was great fun to paint, especially his suit and the walls behind him.

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